Gohary, a jihadist with self-professed links to the Taliban, called for the “destruction of the Sphinx and the Giza Pyramids in Egypt,” drawing ties between the Egyptian relics and Buddha statues.

The Islamist, previously twice-sentenced under former President Hosni Mubarak for advocating violence, called on Muslims to remove such “idols.”

“All Muslims are charged with applying the teachings of Islam to remove such idols, as we did in Afghanistan when we destroyed the Buddha statues,” he said on Saturday during a television interview on an Egyptian private channel, widely watched by Egyptian and Arab audiences.

“God ordered Prophet Mohammed to destroy idols,” he added. “When I was with the Taliban we destroyed the statue of Buddha, something the government failed to do.”

His comments came a day after thousands of ultraconservative Islamists gathered in Tahrir Square to call for the strict application of Sharia law in the new constitution.

I’d almost like to see them try with the Great Pyramid. That thing has a volume of about 2.5 million cubic metres, and it weights about 6 million tons. What are they going to do to it? Fill its chambers with explosives and try to blow it up? If that destroys the pyramid, the debris is likely to lay waste to a significant part of modern Giza too.

Destroying the Sphinx and the Pyramids would really help the tourist trade. How do they think they can make a living if not from tourists? They haven’t got oil. A Saudi Arabia without oil is not going to be a great success story.